1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:14,560 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:17,520 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with iHeart Radio and 4 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:20,120 Speaker 1: I love all things tech. It is time for us 5 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:23,720 Speaker 1: to conclude our tech Stuff classic series where we were 6 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:26,200 Speaker 1: looking at the Rise and Fall of Atari. So two 7 00:00:26,239 --> 00:00:28,680 Speaker 1: weeks ago we did part one. Last week we did 8 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:31,280 Speaker 1: Part two. This week we did part three. This is 9 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:36,640 Speaker 1: all assuming that I don't change the actual order of 10 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:39,519 Speaker 1: classic episodes, which I have been known to do. I 11 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:42,320 Speaker 1: record these way in advance, so who knows. But anyway, 12 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:46,760 Speaker 1: this particular episode was originally published on March nine, two 13 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:50,200 Speaker 1: thousand fifteen, The Rise and Fall of Atari, Part three, 14 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:54,600 Speaker 1: hope you enjoy. There could be seven eight episodes where 15 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:56,240 Speaker 1: we talk about all the things that we're going on. 16 00:00:56,240 --> 00:00:59,000 Speaker 1: There were incredible political moves going on behind the scenes. 17 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:03,160 Speaker 1: There were some amazing technological development. We haven't really touched 18 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:06,800 Speaker 1: on the major competitors with Atari that we're causing extra 19 00:01:06,959 --> 00:01:10,039 Speaker 1: problems for them, like, uh, you know, the early on 20 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:12,640 Speaker 1: the in television and Coliko, but then later on we're 21 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:16,320 Speaker 1: talking Nintendo and Sega and then Sony with the PlayStation 22 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:18,400 Speaker 1: I mean by that time, ATRII is pretty much out 23 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:22,160 Speaker 1: of the picture anyway. But I mean, it's just so 24 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:24,560 Speaker 1: much to talk about. I found some some websites that 25 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:29,520 Speaker 1: even broke it down into when Atari hired people. And 26 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:32,360 Speaker 1: I'm not talking about the big names we've mentioned talking 27 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:35,959 Speaker 1: about like Marty and Accounting exactly. I mean, it was phenomenal. 28 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:39,480 Speaker 1: The documentation that's out there. So we're going to now 29 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:43,920 Speaker 1: pick up in that tells you how detailed we've been. 30 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:46,319 Speaker 1: If you haven't heard the first two episodes in this series, 31 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:49,520 Speaker 1: go back listen to those first. It's an amazing story. 32 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:56,280 Speaker 1: So is when something happens to Atari that redefines everything, 33 00:01:56,560 --> 00:02:00,960 Speaker 1: and some people consider this yet another death of the company. 34 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:04,760 Speaker 1: That's when Warner, which had purchased Attari from Nolan Bushnell, 35 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:10,320 Speaker 1: the founder of Atari. Warner splits Atari into two entities 36 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:13,799 Speaker 1: one of it one of them is a home computing division, 37 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:19,360 Speaker 1: which is called the Atari Corporation, and the other is 38 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:23,440 Speaker 1: the arcade division, which is called Atari Games. And it 39 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:27,320 Speaker 1: sells off the home computing division. So Atari Corporation gets 40 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:31,760 Speaker 1: sold to a man named Jack Tramiel. Yeah, he was 41 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:36,080 Speaker 1: the original founder of Commodore uh in the famous Commodore 42 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:39,760 Speaker 1: sixty four computer, which was great for its time. Oh yeah, fantastic. 43 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:43,600 Speaker 1: There's a full tech Stuff episode about Commodore published on 44 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:47,040 Speaker 1: Ferbruary first, two thousand twelve. It's good, it was. It 45 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 1: was fun to talk about that too, to talk about 46 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:53,960 Speaker 1: the development of the Commodore system. So Tramiel was another 47 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:58,360 Speaker 1: another pioneer in personal computing and home electronics, and he 48 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 1: saw some promise in that home computing division of Atari, 49 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:05,920 Speaker 1: something that after the video game Crash of three a 50 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:09,440 Speaker 1: lot of people thought had no value whatsoever. Yeah, he 51 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:14,200 Speaker 1: renamed it, uh, I think he renamed it the Atari Corporation. Yeah. Yeah, 52 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:17,040 Speaker 1: he decided to call it that because obviously, you know, 53 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:19,480 Speaker 1: now you have two separate entities that both have the 54 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:21,880 Speaker 1: Atari name in them, Yeah, which is always confusing in 55 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 1: the marketplace, and it's going to be confusing in this 56 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:25,440 Speaker 1: episode because we're gonna be talking about the fate of 57 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:27,920 Speaker 1: both of them, right, So we're gonna follow both the 58 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:30,800 Speaker 1: fate of the Atari Corporation and the fate of Atari Games. 59 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:33,640 Speaker 1: So Atari Games At in nineteen eighty four was still 60 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:37,000 Speaker 1: with Warner, not for long. Not for long in fact, 61 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:40,720 Speaker 1: would be when that changes. So some big stuff happens 62 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 1: in home video games. That's when the Fama com also 63 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:46,920 Speaker 1: known as Nintendo Entertainment System is released in the United States, 64 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:55,280 Speaker 1: which was a body blow like Tyson's punch out right there. Um. Yeah, 65 00:03:55,320 --> 00:04:01,760 Speaker 1: So that was something that convinced people maybe home video 66 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:03,960 Speaker 1: games aren't as dead as we thought they were. Because 67 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:06,480 Speaker 1: the video game crash, we pretty much thought that's it. 68 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:09,320 Speaker 1: Personal computers are going to take over. There won't be 69 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:12,960 Speaker 1: any home consoles dedicated video games anymore. Because that idea 70 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:15,560 Speaker 1: played itself out with Apples on the scene at this point, Yeah, 71 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:19,240 Speaker 1: making a stink. Yeah. In fact, by they're selling the 72 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 1: Macintosh because that came out four so they Yeah. But 73 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:28,599 Speaker 1: the brilliant thing Nintendo did was they learned from Attari's mistakes. 74 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:30,640 Speaker 1: They said, all right, well we are going to license 75 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:34,600 Speaker 1: games like they have to be certified by US. You 76 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:38,599 Speaker 1: can't develop for Nintendo independently without submitting the game for 77 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:41,560 Speaker 1: US for certification. That way we still have some control 78 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:44,600 Speaker 1: over what and Warners wanted. But they didn't get out 79 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:47,880 Speaker 1: ahead of it in time like Nintendo did. No Activision 80 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:52,080 Speaker 1: pretty much doomed Atari because Activisions set that that precedent 81 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:56,360 Speaker 1: that a third party developer can can create uh cartridges 82 00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:00,320 Speaker 1: for another platform that they don't own. Once that insident 83 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:02,880 Speaker 1: was set and that policy wasn't in place, it was 84 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:06,640 Speaker 1: it was game on, literally for everybody who wanted to 85 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:09,400 Speaker 1: develop for Atari. Yeah, and pardon my ignorance because I'm 86 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:11,839 Speaker 1: not a current gamer. I'm still stuck in the eighties. 87 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:16,800 Speaker 1: Activision still around, right, uh huh, Well it's part of 88 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:20,360 Speaker 1: something bigger, but ya, but they survived everything and did 89 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:23,359 Speaker 1: well for them. Well, I mean I could do a 90 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:25,680 Speaker 1: full episode on what happened to Activision too. It's kind 91 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:28,960 Speaker 1: of like it's kind of like a tari you know how, 92 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:35,920 Speaker 1: Atari technically still exists today, so at any rate. Um uh. 93 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:40,200 Speaker 1: Also in five, that's when Warner Communications sells the arcade 94 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:44,760 Speaker 1: division of Atari Games to a competitor, Namco. Yes, so 95 00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:48,320 Speaker 1: that's the company that that developed pac Man. Yeah. Namco 96 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:50,800 Speaker 1: only owned it for about a year, and then some 97 00:05:50,839 --> 00:05:56,719 Speaker 1: employees bought Atari Games from Namco and then uh made 98 00:05:56,760 --> 00:05:59,680 Speaker 1: a few more pretty good arcade games, paper Boy, it 99 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:02,640 Speaker 1: was a big one. Gauntlet, Yeah, Gauntlet was a big one. 100 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:08,320 Speaker 1: Wizard needs food, good games, so they pumped a little 101 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:12,760 Speaker 1: more lifeblood into the car Atari Games division. Yeah, they 102 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:15,560 Speaker 1: also started to develop home games. But here's the thing. 103 00:06:16,279 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 1: When Warner split it up between Atari Corporation in Atari Games, 104 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:27,360 Speaker 1: Atari Corporation had the sole right to sell home games 105 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:30,400 Speaker 1: under the Atari brand, Yeah, which they had already proved 106 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:35,080 Speaker 1: the struggle post without a really great, solid follow up 107 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:39,000 Speaker 1: that didn't didn't jump over. Yeah. And then you've got 108 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:42,400 Speaker 1: Atari Games that was making these these arcade games, and 109 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:44,679 Speaker 1: they wanted to make home video games, but they couldn't 110 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:47,680 Speaker 1: do it under the Atari brand because that belonged to 111 00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:52,760 Speaker 1: Atari Corporation. So they created a new brand called Tension 112 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:57,400 Speaker 1: t E N G E N, which also comes from 113 00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 1: a h an aspect of the old board game Go. 114 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:06,800 Speaker 1: Intension the game, the board game, the Japanese board game Go, 115 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:10,560 Speaker 1: or It's great, Yeah, it's um. In fact, there's a 116 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:13,840 Speaker 1: great story that uh going way back to the first 117 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:16,880 Speaker 1: episode we talked about the the founders of Atari, they 118 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:18,840 Speaker 1: used to play Go in their office, which was an 119 00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:20,880 Speaker 1: office that was originally meant for one person, but two 120 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:24,240 Speaker 1: people had to share it, so they would play games 121 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:28,440 Speaker 1: of Go in between actually getting any work done, although 122 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:33,160 Speaker 1: according to uh Ted, Mr Nolan never really actually did 123 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:36,160 Speaker 1: any work as far as he could tell, but then 124 00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:40,679 Speaker 1: remember he had a lot of sour grapes for legitimate reasons. 125 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:43,920 Speaker 1: So if you notice what's going on now is Atari 126 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:49,160 Speaker 1: Um the corporation is getting really fractured. Um their home 127 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:53,800 Speaker 1: computer business with the hundred, we're doing okay, but they 128 00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:58,240 Speaker 1: were behind the curve, so to speak, and they were 129 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:02,800 Speaker 1: playing catch up. They were announcing a new computer system, 130 00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:05,160 Speaker 1: the Atar E S T. They did that at the 131 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:08,920 Speaker 1: Winter c E S. I did an episode about c 132 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:11,400 Speaker 1: E S once where I explained this. But once upon 133 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:13,920 Speaker 1: a time there were two big c S events. One 134 00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:16,400 Speaker 1: happened in the winter and one happened in the summer, 135 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:21,120 Speaker 1: and now there's only the winter version. But so this 136 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:23,640 Speaker 1: this was back when there were still two and at 137 00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:25,840 Speaker 1: Winter c E S they announced a R S T. 138 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:30,560 Speaker 1: The ST stands for sixteen slash thirty two, which refers 139 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:34,040 Speaker 1: to the microprocessor and its internal and external bus connections. 140 00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:39,119 Speaker 1: But anyway, it had five kilobytes of RAM yeah, smoking fast. Yeah, 141 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:41,960 Speaker 1: and uh it could be expanded up to four megabytes. 142 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:45,800 Speaker 1: So there's that had a graphical user interface, so jewey, 143 00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:49,240 Speaker 1: uh or gooey if you prefer. Once the whole Jeff 144 00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:52,880 Speaker 1: gift thing came out, Yeah, it messes everything up. I 145 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:56,000 Speaker 1: always say gooey because jewey does not sound like it's 146 00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:59,880 Speaker 1: appropriate to me at any rate. It We'll go with gooey. 147 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:05,280 Speaker 1: I think that's the more than more than overwhelming choice. 148 00:09:05,679 --> 00:09:08,800 Speaker 1: It also had a floppy disk drive, and it would 149 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:11,000 Speaker 1: be the cartridge drive. Yes, so I had both. Yeah, 150 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:14,520 Speaker 1: And it would be produced up until the early nineteen nineties. Yeah, 151 00:09:14,559 --> 00:09:18,440 Speaker 1: and it was the cheapest sixteen bit computer. Um. And 152 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:20,280 Speaker 1: like like you said, if it was around to the 153 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:23,400 Speaker 1: nineteen nineties, it did okay. Yeah. In fact, in Europe 154 00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:26,320 Speaker 1: it did pretty well. Here in the United States did okay, 155 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:29,600 Speaker 1: and in Europe it did it did better. Um. And 156 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:33,440 Speaker 1: then we've got uh, the Atari Corporation releasing the Atari 157 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:37,760 Speaker 1: hundred Pro system in six soft dred had come out, 158 00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:40,400 Speaker 1: and then the seventy eight hundred comes out. It had 159 00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:43,480 Speaker 1: digital joysticks rather than the older analog type, and the 160 00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:45,920 Speaker 1: seventy hundred had a weird little story and that it 161 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:51,720 Speaker 1: was manufactured and then shelves in a warehouse basically for um, 162 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:54,240 Speaker 1: I'm not really sure how long. Two years. Yeah, two years. 163 00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:56,760 Speaker 1: They basically were just going to sit on it, and 164 00:09:56,800 --> 00:10:00,480 Speaker 1: then finally they said, well, the decision was really is arbitrary, 165 00:10:00,559 --> 00:10:03,000 Speaker 1: is like, let's just sell these things. Yeah. Yeah, they 166 00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:06,800 Speaker 1: released like a couple of early models uh in that 167 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:09,040 Speaker 1: two year period, but they, like you were saying, they 168 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:11,880 Speaker 1: didn't sell it like it. People talk about it being 169 00:10:12,120 --> 00:10:17,920 Speaker 1: uh uh re debuted or reintroduced, but it never was 170 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:21,880 Speaker 1: fully introduced in the first place. But one cool thing 171 00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:27,000 Speaker 1: about it was it was backwards compatible with almost all games. Uh. Yeah, 172 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:28,960 Speaker 1: so that's kind of neat, you know, it's better than 173 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:34,200 Speaker 1: the fifty UM and yeah, it ended up uh not 174 00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:38,599 Speaker 1: really competing very well against the Nintendo Entertainment System. It 175 00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:44,000 Speaker 1: would only be produced until or supported until that's when 176 00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:47,440 Speaker 1: Atari announced that they would no longer UM produce games 177 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:55,559 Speaker 1: or consoles. There was also JR companion model to basically 178 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:59,520 Speaker 1: the the public. At this point, uh, Nintendo Fever had 179 00:10:59,559 --> 00:11:02,640 Speaker 1: struck and Sega started to come out with their systems, 180 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:06,199 Speaker 1: and Atari was just kind of sadly lost in the 181 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:08,280 Speaker 1: shuffle there as far as the home systems go. Yeah, 182 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:11,559 Speaker 1: if you're if your mascot wasn't a little Italian plumber, 183 00:11:12,360 --> 00:11:15,240 Speaker 1: yeah you were out of luck. We'll be back with 184 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:27,360 Speaker 1: more about Attari after this quick break. So Attari would 185 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:31,240 Speaker 1: release the Atari x E video Game System a k a. 186 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:34,560 Speaker 1: The Atari x E g S, which was based off 187 00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:38,600 Speaker 1: the eight bit computers Attari had previously created. Um so 188 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:41,400 Speaker 1: think of like the fifty two hundred was kind of 189 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:44,000 Speaker 1: the video game console of the four eight hundred bit 190 00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:48,280 Speaker 1: or four eight hundred Atari computers. This one was the 191 00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:50,480 Speaker 1: next general it was based off the next generation of 192 00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:53,600 Speaker 1: those same home computers. Yeah, those confusion in the marketplace, 193 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:56,240 Speaker 1: and I think confusion within Atari. I don't think they 194 00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:58,400 Speaker 1: even knew what kind of company they were at this point. No, 195 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:01,000 Speaker 1: I don't think so. In this one actually had one 196 00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:05,600 Speaker 1: game hard coded into it. So the Atari you could 197 00:12:05,960 --> 00:12:08,559 Speaker 1: play other games, like you could get the disks for 198 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:11,000 Speaker 1: other games and play them, but it had one game 199 00:12:11,040 --> 00:12:14,400 Speaker 1: that was hard coded into it, and that was Missile Command. 200 00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:18,240 Speaker 1: So it's not a bad choice. But yeah, it was 201 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:20,840 Speaker 1: again one of those things where you might feel that 202 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:24,080 Speaker 1: Atari didn't have a clear vision for what its place was. 203 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:29,000 Speaker 1: Things just in kind of money and in they would 204 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:32,320 Speaker 1: release the five twenty st E and the ten forty 205 00:12:32,600 --> 00:12:36,320 Speaker 1: STE models of its home computer, which had an increased 206 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:40,360 Speaker 1: color palette and a graphics processor, right, a dedicated co 207 00:12:40,600 --> 00:12:43,840 Speaker 1: processor for the graphics which is something that's common now, 208 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:46,040 Speaker 1: but at the time was pretty new. Yeah. So, I 209 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:47,600 Speaker 1: mean they were, they were doing some of the right 210 00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:50,160 Speaker 1: things on the home computer front, but there was just 211 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:53,079 Speaker 1: so much more competition now. You had you had Apple, 212 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:57,120 Speaker 1: you had the IBM compatibles, and you had IBM Plus. 213 00:12:57,160 --> 00:12:59,720 Speaker 1: The Amigo was still out there. Um you can't forget 214 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:02,120 Speaker 1: about the Amiga. No. I had a friend who was 215 00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:05,920 Speaker 1: a die hard Amiga fan, and I gotta admit the Amiga. 216 00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:07,880 Speaker 1: The thing that I loved about the Amiga was that 217 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:12,720 Speaker 1: well before anyone else, it was doing amazing sound and graphics, 218 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:17,640 Speaker 1: like years before anyone else had managed to do that 219 00:13:17,679 --> 00:13:21,320 Speaker 1: in an affordable way. And uh so, I remember my 220 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:25,120 Speaker 1: friend had several games for the Amiga that I found 221 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:28,640 Speaker 1: to be like light years beyond anything I could play 222 00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:30,760 Speaker 1: on my Apple two E or my two eighties six 223 00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:35,400 Speaker 1: at home. Um So, but the the CPU on these 224 00:13:35,640 --> 00:13:40,000 Speaker 1: devices had a blistering speed of eight Mega hurts. We're 225 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:42,439 Speaker 1: talking about the multiple Giga hurts now, and it's a 226 00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:44,200 Speaker 1: little a little slow on that and in fact, my 227 00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:49,480 Speaker 1: phone is way faster than that. Um But that's also 228 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:52,560 Speaker 1: when Atari Corporation acquired the right to manufacture and sell 229 00:13:52,679 --> 00:13:55,720 Speaker 1: a handheld gaming console that had been developed by a 230 00:13:55,720 --> 00:14:00,520 Speaker 1: different company. Yeah, yeah, yeah, The Links was really cool. 231 00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:02,760 Speaker 1: It had been developed by a company called Epics e 232 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:06,600 Speaker 1: p y X, but Epics had entered financial difficulty and 233 00:14:06,640 --> 00:14:09,160 Speaker 1: it owed a lot of money to various companies. The 234 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:12,079 Speaker 1: largest that it owed money too was Atari. Actually, the 235 00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:15,120 Speaker 1: largest amount it owed was to Atari. Yeah, and so 236 00:14:15,559 --> 00:14:17,600 Speaker 1: they had this kind of settlement to say, like, well, 237 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 1: how are we going to make good on this because 238 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:23,040 Speaker 1: Epics is on the verge of just disappearing, and as 239 00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:26,440 Speaker 1: part of the deal, essentially they signed over this this 240 00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:29,640 Speaker 1: handheld gaming system they had been developing, and that became 241 00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:32,600 Speaker 1: the Atari Links. And the Links was great. I remember 242 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:34,000 Speaker 1: I had a couple of friends it had it. It 243 00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:37,320 Speaker 1: um It was released around the same time as the 244 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:40,640 Speaker 1: Game Boy, but it had full color graphics. It looked better, 245 00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:43,640 Speaker 1: it sounded better. You could link them together, you could 246 00:14:43,640 --> 00:14:46,320 Speaker 1: link them together. It was it was sort of large. Um. 247 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:51,640 Speaker 1: It was had a horizontal UM I guess body UM. 248 00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:53,880 Speaker 1: So it was big, which wasn't great. It was a 249 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:56,680 Speaker 1: little ungainly. The battery life would only last four to 250 00:14:56,800 --> 00:14:59,000 Speaker 1: five hours, so that was kind of frustrating because this 251 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:02,440 Speaker 1: is this is not era of rechargeable batteries. For most people, 252 00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:05,240 Speaker 1: you were popping out old ones and replacing them with 253 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:08,040 Speaker 1: new ones, so that could get really frustrating. But the 254 00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:12,760 Speaker 1: one thing Links did not have was a game called Tetris. Yeah, 255 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:16,760 Speaker 1: and that is what basically was the death blow to 256 00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:20,040 Speaker 1: the Links. Tetris was just such a huge deal. It 257 00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:22,280 Speaker 1: was the killer app. Yeah, it was the killer app 258 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:24,640 Speaker 1: and it's what made game Boy what it was. And 259 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:28,280 Speaker 1: I got the game Boy. Yeah, and then and then 260 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:31,040 Speaker 1: like you would think that, well, maybe if they can 261 00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:33,520 Speaker 1: stick it out, then the Links will have a chance 262 00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:37,240 Speaker 1: because the Nintendo game Boy, once everyone's got that, they'll 263 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:40,720 Speaker 1: see that the Lynx has got uh better stats, and 264 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:43,880 Speaker 1: maybe I'll go with that. But then in Sega came 265 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:48,160 Speaker 1: out with the game Gear, and Sega was already doing 266 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:51,200 Speaker 1: really good business too, and that just that just meant 267 00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:54,480 Speaker 1: that the Links had no place in that competition. I 268 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:57,680 Speaker 1: feel bad for a Tary at this point because they're 269 00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:00,800 Speaker 1: coming up with superior products in certain case, it still 270 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:03,600 Speaker 1: can't get market. It's either bad timing or it's a 271 00:16:03,680 --> 00:16:06,960 Speaker 1: combination of bad timing and a lack of a compelling 272 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:10,800 Speaker 1: library to these games. It really shows how you need 273 00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:14,400 Speaker 1: to have strong launch titles to move a console. Yeah, 274 00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:16,360 Speaker 1: there's a lot more to it than just like this 275 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:19,840 Speaker 1: has the best graphics. In fact, you know, going into 276 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:23,680 Speaker 1: personal account here, I don't own a current generation game. 277 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:26,640 Speaker 1: I love gaming. I consider myself to be a gamer. 278 00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:30,840 Speaker 1: I'm not a hardcore gamer, and certainly I'm sure any 279 00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:32,920 Speaker 1: of my listeners listening could beat me at any game 280 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:35,280 Speaker 1: of their choice. So I don't want to I don't 281 00:16:35,280 --> 00:16:37,560 Speaker 1: want to put that out there, but but I will 282 00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:40,720 Speaker 1: say that I love gaming, but I haven't purchased an 283 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:44,280 Speaker 1: Xbox One or a PS four because we're finally at 284 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:46,600 Speaker 1: a point now where it's different. But for the longest time, 285 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:50,840 Speaker 1: the libraries weren't compelling enough for me to make that investment, right, 286 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:54,320 Speaker 1: So I would think, yes, it's clearly superior to the 287 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:56,920 Speaker 1: system I have now, but the games aren't games that 288 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,480 Speaker 1: I want to play yet. I want to wait until 289 00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:02,120 Speaker 1: they're enough games that I want to play to justify 290 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:05,119 Speaker 1: that expense, and now we're at that point. I just 291 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:07,520 Speaker 1: haven't Well, for one thing, I'm not allowed to have 292 00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:10,040 Speaker 1: a present for another year and a half. I have 293 00:17:10,080 --> 00:17:13,640 Speaker 1: a two year, two year period where I can't get presence, 294 00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:15,600 Speaker 1: or at least my wife won't buy me presence for 295 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:17,800 Speaker 1: a good reason, and it's not a bad one. It's 296 00:17:17,840 --> 00:17:21,280 Speaker 1: that I made a substantial donation to a nonprofit and 297 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:25,440 Speaker 1: in return, the agreement was two years no presence. You're 298 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:28,119 Speaker 1: a good man. Here's my deal with gaming now is 299 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:33,639 Speaker 1: I uh played Nintendo and stuff through the through the 300 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:37,440 Speaker 1: sixty in college, was way into it, and then sort 301 00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:41,720 Speaker 1: of dropped out for a long time until my stepfather, 302 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:45,480 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, my father in law gave me his PS 303 00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:48,480 Speaker 1: three a couple of years ago because he just didn't 304 00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:52,719 Speaker 1: want it. And since then, I buy like I just 305 00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:55,040 Speaker 1: look up once a year and buy like the two 306 00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:57,800 Speaker 1: best reviewed games of the year, and I'll play those 307 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:00,240 Speaker 1: for about a month and then that's it. We don't 308 00:18:00,280 --> 00:18:03,800 Speaker 1: have the time to doe to gaming three years old. 309 00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:06,400 Speaker 1: You know, I fix up my house. I know I've 310 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:10,640 Speaker 1: got a house, I got a puppy, I got four animals. Yeah, 311 00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:13,320 Speaker 1: we've gotten to a point. We're obviously getting a little 312 00:18:13,359 --> 00:18:15,560 Speaker 1: off topic, but it's true, like we we just have 313 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:17,199 Speaker 1: reached a point in our lives where no, you just 314 00:18:17,240 --> 00:18:20,359 Speaker 1: can't game like that anymore. About about the last of us, Oh, 315 00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:24,000 Speaker 1: fantastic game. Fantastic game. But see, I still have that 316 00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:27,960 Speaker 1: gamer in me because I was addicted to this game. Um. 317 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:33,320 Speaker 1: And then I bought one of the bio BioShock BioShock, 318 00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:37,720 Speaker 1: but the steampunk one, right, so BioShock Infinite, Yeah, that one, 319 00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:39,680 Speaker 1: and I played that one through and that was really great. 320 00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:42,760 Speaker 1: The music in that game is amazing. Yeah, and that's 321 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:45,600 Speaker 1: the extent of my gaming. Now I hear two years, 322 00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:47,760 Speaker 1: I'll buy the best two games. Although after the last 323 00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:49,600 Speaker 1: of us, I don't. I mean, I don't see how 324 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:51,720 Speaker 1: you can get any better. It was a very emotionally 325 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:57,240 Speaker 1: impactful game. I mean right at my amories. Uh so, yeah, 326 00:18:57,280 --> 00:19:01,040 Speaker 1: back to the get back to the Tari. No, I 327 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:03,320 Speaker 1: love doing this. I would just totally continue on that 328 00:19:03,359 --> 00:19:06,720 Speaker 1: conversation otherwise. But no, there's only one thing I have 329 00:19:06,760 --> 00:19:09,359 Speaker 1: to mention, which is that Atari Corporation released the Atari 330 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:12,760 Speaker 1: t T zero three zero or zero thirty. It's a 331 00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:16,840 Speaker 1: workstations thirty two Mega Hurts process or workstation. So they 332 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:19,120 Speaker 1: were still staying in the home computer business at that point. 333 00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:22,360 Speaker 1: It's yeah, they're they're trying to hang in there. And 334 00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:26,840 Speaker 1: I don't have any notes for ninety one, but into Yeah. 335 00:19:27,240 --> 00:19:30,040 Speaker 1: In ninety two, Atari Corporation would release the Falcon, which 336 00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:33,320 Speaker 1: would be the last of its computer systems. The Falcon 337 00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:35,560 Speaker 1: was the last time they tried to do a home computer, 338 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:38,879 Speaker 1: and then they made the decision to switch back to 339 00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:44,720 Speaker 1: trying to do video game consoles again. So that's why 340 00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:49,040 Speaker 1: we see the release of the Atari jag jagua if 341 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:52,240 Speaker 1: you want to go with the British pronunciation jack one again. 342 00:19:52,359 --> 00:19:55,040 Speaker 1: Atari is doing the right thing there ahead of the curve. 343 00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:58,440 Speaker 1: It's the first sixty four bit system. Yeah, so it's 344 00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:02,080 Speaker 1: so it is graphically and as far as the processor goes, 345 00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:05,359 Speaker 1: more powerful than any of the competitors on the market 346 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:08,280 Speaker 1: at that Yeah, and had had a couple of success 347 00:20:08,280 --> 00:20:11,640 Speaker 1: successful titles. I think the Alien versus Predator that's one 348 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:13,679 Speaker 1: that's considered to be one of the best titles for 349 00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:16,680 Speaker 1: that system. Tempest two thousand that was the other one 350 00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:21,320 Speaker 1: was really good. Um, but the controller on it was terrible. Yeah. 351 00:20:21,359 --> 00:20:25,240 Speaker 1: It was huge and it was unwieldy, um, and didn't 352 00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:28,440 Speaker 1: have a lot of software support. Right to the titles 353 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:30,920 Speaker 1: that we just mentioned are pretty much I was like, well, 354 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:33,640 Speaker 1: beyond that, I can't really justify buying this. It says 355 00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:37,040 Speaker 1: there were sixty seven games ever released, and that's it. 356 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:40,439 Speaker 1: I don't think more than ten of them registered on 357 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:43,359 Speaker 1: the radar. You read over the them and you're just like, well, 358 00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:46,199 Speaker 1: I never heard of this there. That's gonna be one 359 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:50,320 Speaker 1: of the reasons why this Jaguar never took off. Yeah, well, 360 00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:52,760 Speaker 1: in the sixty four was just awesome and they had 361 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:55,679 Speaker 1: good games, and then you had the PlayStation coming on. 362 00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:58,879 Speaker 1: Like when Sony starts really throwing down then it really 363 00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:03,840 Speaker 1: this was at last like a star in just reaching 364 00:21:03,840 --> 00:21:05,440 Speaker 1: for that rope at the end of the rope, trying 365 00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:08,159 Speaker 1: to grab ahold of it and Nintendo and Sonny was 366 00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:10,720 Speaker 1: just pulling the rope higher. So we haven't talked about 367 00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:13,040 Speaker 1: Atari Games for a little bit. That's the that's the 368 00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:17,360 Speaker 1: branch that did the arcade versions not and also produced 369 00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:21,280 Speaker 1: some home video under home video games under tension, uh, 370 00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:25,359 Speaker 1: Time Warner Communications. Just in case you didn't know, Warner 371 00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:28,639 Speaker 1: and Time merged in nine. Just a little bit of 372 00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:33,240 Speaker 1: a merger. Yeah, Time Warner Communications purchased controlling interest in 373 00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:36,080 Speaker 1: Atari Games, so Atari Games would get consolidated with other 374 00:21:36,119 --> 00:21:40,640 Speaker 1: properties in nine and become known as Time Warner Interactive. 375 00:21:40,640 --> 00:21:43,480 Speaker 1: So Atari Games was part of Time Warner Interactive. But 376 00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:47,040 Speaker 1: this means that part of Atari is back with Warner. 377 00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:51,040 Speaker 1: Remember Warner was the one that so off. So yeah, 378 00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:53,880 Speaker 1: Warner had sold it off to Namco, then employees bought 379 00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:58,040 Speaker 1: it back from Namco, and then Time Warner Communications buys it. 380 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:00,880 Speaker 1: And it's just this is why it gets really hard 381 00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:05,800 Speaker 1: to talk about the end of Atari. Um And another 382 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:12,200 Speaker 1: confusing thing, uh JT Storage, which was a hard disc manufacturer. Yeah, 383 00:22:12,359 --> 00:22:15,760 Speaker 1: JTS merges with Atari Corporation. So this is the home 384 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:19,480 Speaker 1: computer one, not the Atari games one. So JTS merges 385 00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:23,360 Speaker 1: with Atari Corporation. But JTS was in a tough spot 386 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:29,119 Speaker 1: because it was already had a cash flow problem and 387 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:32,320 Speaker 1: so it was looking for a way to avoid going 388 00:22:32,359 --> 00:22:35,760 Speaker 1: into bankruptcy and thought that by acquiring Atari, which had 389 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:39,200 Speaker 1: lots of cash, but not a whole lot of market 390 00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:42,040 Speaker 1: share because most of the cash from Atari was actually 391 00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:47,320 Speaker 1: coming from lawsuits like they were going after other companies. Yeah, 392 00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:49,640 Speaker 1: so they weren't making money off their products as much 393 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:54,080 Speaker 1: as they were off some of the lawsuits. So JTS 394 00:22:54,119 --> 00:22:57,399 Speaker 1: comes in, acquires Atari, then fires almost all of the 395 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:03,280 Speaker 1: former Atari employees and inquidates the remaining Atari inventory as 396 00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:08,240 Speaker 1: a means of helping stave off this impending disaster, which 397 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:12,760 Speaker 1: it did not do. Two years after that, Hasbro Interactive 398 00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:18,399 Speaker 1: um buys JTS for five million bucks. Yeah, essentially it 399 00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:22,120 Speaker 1: bought the Atari Corporation from JTS for five million. JTS 400 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:25,399 Speaker 1: actually went bankrupt that year. It essentially bought the Atari 401 00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:27,920 Speaker 1: name for five million. But yeah, because at that point 402 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,879 Speaker 1: there really was nothing left, right because and at this 403 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:34,240 Speaker 1: point in the name, it's like your your drunk uncle 404 00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:36,879 Speaker 1: who was he was a big shot in high school. 405 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:39,520 Speaker 1: That's what Atari is at this point. Yeah, it's like, 406 00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:42,400 Speaker 1: you know, stumbling around in the alley, you know, don't 407 00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:44,560 Speaker 1: you know who I am? And around the same time, 408 00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:47,640 Speaker 1: to make matters worse. Okay, So that that's Atari Corporation, right, 409 00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:52,119 Speaker 1: getting acquired for five million by Hasbro Interactive. Meanwhile, around 410 00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:55,399 Speaker 1: that same time, Atari Games was split off from Time 411 00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:59,000 Speaker 1: Warner Interactive. So it didn't stay at Time Warner very 412 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:02,520 Speaker 1: long either, like three years it was gone. It splits 413 00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:06,840 Speaker 1: off and is purchased by w MS Industries, which was 414 00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:12,880 Speaker 1: the parent company or Williams and Bally Midway. So now 415 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:15,959 Speaker 1: we're seeing a consolidation of the big names that you know, 416 00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:20,000 Speaker 1: twenty years earlier, have been the defining names in in 417 00:24:20,359 --> 00:24:28,320 Speaker 1: arcade entertainments. So they purchase Atari Games. Uh, and meanwhile, 418 00:24:28,359 --> 00:24:33,520 Speaker 1: you've got Hasbro Interactive that's acquired the Atari Corporation. So 419 00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:37,320 Speaker 1: at that point, yeah, that's true, but don't get ahead 420 00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:41,359 Speaker 1: of me. So at that point, when when Hasbro gets 421 00:24:41,359 --> 00:24:46,399 Speaker 1: hold of Atari Corporation, w MS Industries doesn't want confusion. 422 00:24:46,800 --> 00:24:49,800 Speaker 1: You know, they just purchased Atari Games earlier. Yeah. Yeah, 423 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:52,240 Speaker 1: we're already confused. So what they do is they renamed 424 00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:57,320 Speaker 1: Atari Games. Atari Games gets renamed into Midway Games West. 425 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:01,560 Speaker 1: So now when I talk about Atari Games, I'm actually 426 00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:04,679 Speaker 1: talking Midway Games West. Don't worry, we'll come back around 427 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:08,160 Speaker 1: to make things more confusing later. So yeah, so now 428 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:10,639 Speaker 1: we get to two thousand, that's when the dot com 429 00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:15,959 Speaker 1: bubble bursts. Poor Atari because through two bubble bursts, right, 430 00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:18,439 Speaker 1: the video game bubble and then the dot com bubble. 431 00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:21,480 Speaker 1: Man So they probably had were affected by the real 432 00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:24,160 Speaker 1: estate bubble in some way to Probably I was affected 433 00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:26,399 Speaker 1: by the dot com bubble. I worked for a human 434 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:28,720 Speaker 1: resources management consulting firm at the time, and most of 435 00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:32,880 Speaker 1: our clients were dot com companies. Yeah, suddenly our client 436 00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:36,760 Speaker 1: lists got a lot smaller, but look where you are now. Yeah, 437 00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:39,359 Speaker 1: it was a long road, but I'm glad I'm here. 438 00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:44,679 Speaker 1: Uh So Hasbro because Hasbro Interactive was hit hard by 439 00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:47,520 Speaker 1: this dot com verse. Everyone was right, you mean you 440 00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:51,159 Speaker 1: just had this. It was another market correction that was 441 00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:55,560 Speaker 1: the devastated a lot of companies and lives. So Hasbro 442 00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:59,639 Speaker 1: decides to sell off Hasbro Interactive, including the intellectual property 443 00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:02,840 Speaker 1: from a Hary corporation. Remember that's the home computing one. 444 00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:05,960 Speaker 1: They sell it to a French company that I always 445 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:09,680 Speaker 1: misspelled because I always think that the name is a typo. Yeah, 446 00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:13,120 Speaker 1: info Grams in not info Games. Yeah, I keep thinking 447 00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:16,080 Speaker 1: it's info games. It's info Grams because it's spelled like 448 00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:18,440 Speaker 1: info games but with an extra are there right after 449 00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:21,360 Speaker 1: the G? Yeah? The French that was in two thousand Yeah, 450 00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:26,719 Speaker 1: and uh so Hasbro Interactive becomes info Grams Interactive and 451 00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:29,680 Speaker 1: in two thousand three, unless you have anything between two 452 00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:32,399 Speaker 1: thousand and two thousand three, thank goodness. So in two 453 00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:38,119 Speaker 1: thousand three, Info Grams Interactive is renamed Atari Interactive and 454 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:43,200 Speaker 1: Infograms creates a subsidiary called Atari Incorporated, which has its 455 00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:46,520 Speaker 1: own listing on NASDAC. Yeah, they still saw value in 456 00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:49,720 Speaker 1: that Atari name, despite the pummeling it took over the years. 457 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:53,679 Speaker 1: And keep in mind that by this point there's nothing 458 00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:57,480 Speaker 1: left of the original Atari attached to the Satari name. 459 00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:00,119 Speaker 1: The Atari name is a name and an idea, but 460 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:04,760 Speaker 1: it's no longer associated with the original company at all. Yeah. 461 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:07,879 Speaker 1: So the European branch of Infograms became known as Atari 462 00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:13,679 Speaker 1: Europe and Infograms Australia became Atari Australia, Infograms UK became 463 00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:17,960 Speaker 1: a UK. Yeah, and there were re releases of some 464 00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:21,360 Speaker 1: of the classic games. There were some newer games. One 465 00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:23,400 Speaker 1: called Alone in the Dark in two thousand and eight 466 00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:27,000 Speaker 1: was supposed to be pretty good. I never played it. Fantastic, 467 00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:30,119 Speaker 1: So they had some successes. But again that was just 468 00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:33,760 Speaker 1: confusing because they were, you know, a publisher and a distributor, 469 00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:36,080 Speaker 1: and they really didn't really know what they were doing 470 00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:40,520 Speaker 1: completely with the Autari name. Right. Infograms in particular was 471 00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:43,879 Speaker 1: into this like acquisition mania, like they were they were 472 00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:45,800 Speaker 1: buying up properties left and right, Yeah, which is always 473 00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:48,800 Speaker 1: a little dangerous, yeah, because it can lead to a 474 00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:51,440 Speaker 1: lack of focus, which is exactly what happened in this case. 475 00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:55,959 Speaker 1: I mean, obviously, hindsight tells us that right. We wouldn't 476 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:59,680 Speaker 1: necessarily know that otherwise, but it is the case Midway 477 00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:02,480 Speaker 1: Game In two thousand three, Midway Games West, I should say, 478 00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:05,920 Speaker 1: remember that what used to be Atari Games now Midway 479 00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:10,840 Speaker 1: Games West disbands, So now Atari Games is just a name. 480 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:12,720 Speaker 1: In fact, there was a holding company that was still 481 00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:15,159 Speaker 1: called Midway Games West, but it was just a holding company. 482 00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:18,119 Speaker 1: There was no nothing else to it. It was not 483 00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:22,520 Speaker 1: an office, no secretary, no games coming out of it, nothing, 484 00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:27,320 Speaker 1: So it only exists as a name literally at this point. 485 00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:32,560 Speaker 1: Two thousand four, the Atari Flashback launches. Now the Flashback 486 00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:35,359 Speaker 1: is a dedicated console with games that are hard baked 487 00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:37,760 Speaker 1: into it, so it doesn't use cartridges as a selection 488 00:28:37,760 --> 00:28:41,160 Speaker 1: of games. It looked like except for some added buttons 489 00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:44,000 Speaker 1: here and there. Um. I bought. I don't know who 490 00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:46,200 Speaker 1: made it, but I bought. At one point someone was 491 00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:49,600 Speaker 1: selling the joystick just plugs directly into the Yeah, that 492 00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:52,480 Speaker 1: had like games or something on it. Um, and that 493 00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:54,360 Speaker 1: was I played the heck out of that thing. Oh yeah, 494 00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:56,200 Speaker 1: I did too. I have one of those at home. 495 00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:57,800 Speaker 1: But that I have one of those at home right 496 00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:02,120 Speaker 1: next to my TV. So not trying to bragg or anything. 497 00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:04,120 Speaker 1: I mean I realized that almost everyone out there probably 498 00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:05,880 Speaker 1: has a larger TV, So please don't make me feel 499 00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:10,880 Speaker 1: badly about myself. But the flashback did. Okay. They came 500 00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:13,840 Speaker 1: out with different versions of that exactly like the first 501 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:15,880 Speaker 1: one did not have river Ate and it, so that 502 00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:18,360 Speaker 1: just did not fly with me. Yeah, but it's all 503 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:21,280 Speaker 1: for the nostalgia crowd. Yeah. So that came out with 504 00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:24,320 Speaker 1: models in two thousand four, two thousand five, two two 505 00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:27,560 Speaker 1: thousand eleven, and two thousand twelve. Different companies would produce 506 00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:29,960 Speaker 1: it over the years, um, but they were all licensed 507 00:29:29,960 --> 00:29:33,600 Speaker 1: by Atari. And by Atari I mean Atari Home Computing, 508 00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:38,160 Speaker 1: which means uh infograms as opposed to Midway Games West, 509 00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:43,560 Speaker 1: which is I know, really two thousand five. Okay, seriously, 510 00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:45,920 Speaker 1: has Bro, what the heck are you doing? Has Bro 511 00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:50,520 Speaker 1: buys back some intellectual property from Atari s A. Which 512 00:29:50,560 --> 00:29:55,520 Speaker 1: is the info Grams version, the home computer version also 513 00:29:55,560 --> 00:29:58,360 Speaker 1: known as Atari Inc. As the subsidiary of Ataria, say, 514 00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:02,400 Speaker 1: for sixty five million in dollars. See that's what's confusing. Yeah, 515 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:04,680 Speaker 1: that's that Hasbro got out of the game and then 516 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:08,120 Speaker 1: literally got back into it, you know. For that. Yeah, 517 00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:13,160 Speaker 1: clearly that dot com bubble scared everybody, and then once 518 00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:16,240 Speaker 1: we started seeing recovery, people wanted to get back into it, 519 00:30:16,320 --> 00:30:19,680 Speaker 1: the ones that were still around anyway. Now now Atri 520 00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:22,920 Speaker 1: is not your drunk uncle, it's just the abused, like confused, 521 00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:25,280 Speaker 1: I don't even know which which way is up at 522 00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:27,320 Speaker 1: this point. This is this is the This is the 523 00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:30,600 Speaker 1: person who's just wandering the street and talking about how 524 00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:33,560 Speaker 1: you know, the trees are convincing them to buy Dorito's. 525 00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:36,120 Speaker 1: That is what this is that now we're at that point. Yeah. 526 00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:40,720 Speaker 1: So in two eight, Infograms offers to buy out Atari 527 00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:44,920 Speaker 1: Incorporated shares to make Infograms the sole owner of Atari 528 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:48,320 Speaker 1: Incorporated again because they had listed to Tori Incorporated on NASDAC, 529 00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:52,000 Speaker 1: so they sold shares to other parties, making it a 530 00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:55,720 Speaker 1: publicly traded company. But now they're saying, well, we need 531 00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:58,640 Speaker 1: to fix Atari like this, this brand is not doing 532 00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:02,040 Speaker 1: what we needed to do. We think that this brand, Yeah, 533 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:05,840 Speaker 1: we think this brand could save us because Infograms as 534 00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:08,400 Speaker 1: a whole was having a lot of issues. We want 535 00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:10,840 Speaker 1: to be able to rebrand ourselves, but in order to 536 00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:13,480 Speaker 1: do that, we first need to get all of Atari 537 00:31:13,720 --> 00:31:16,160 Speaker 1: back belonging to us. So they offered to buy it out. 538 00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:22,640 Speaker 1: It's accepted, and Infograms reacquires Atari uh completely, so now 539 00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:27,120 Speaker 1: it totally belongs to Infograms uh. Atari meanwhile had acquired 540 00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:29,960 Speaker 1: another company called Cryptic Studios, which developed a game called 541 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:33,600 Speaker 1: City of Heroes. It's an online multiplayer game where you 542 00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:37,520 Speaker 1: create a superhero um and you an original superhero that 543 00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:39,120 Speaker 1: you can play. It's one that I always wanted to 544 00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:41,440 Speaker 1: get into it, but I never I never had the 545 00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:45,840 Speaker 1: time to dedicate to those massive online games and their 546 00:31:45,920 --> 00:31:48,920 Speaker 1: monthly subscription base. For well, now they're mostly free to play, 547 00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:51,520 Speaker 1: but back then they were all monthly subscriptions and you're 548 00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:54,240 Speaker 1: busy creating your own real life superhero persona. That's true, 549 00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:57,320 Speaker 1: but you know that's what about. That's an alter ego 550 00:31:57,400 --> 00:32:00,880 Speaker 1: thing that we need to steer away from. We're gonna 551 00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:03,640 Speaker 1: take a quick break for some messages, but then we'll 552 00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:05,960 Speaker 1: be back with more of the rise and fall of Atari. 553 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:19,840 Speaker 1: So two thousand nine, good grief. Could this story get 554 00:32:19,920 --> 00:32:25,360 Speaker 1: more ridiculous? Warner Brothers Entertainment purchases the Midway intellectual property, 555 00:32:25,800 --> 00:32:30,160 Speaker 1: including the name Atari Games, So for the third time 556 00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:38,959 Speaker 1: Warner Warner owns something called Atari three times buying and selling. 557 00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:44,600 Speaker 1: I don't know. So. Meanwhile, Namco Bandai acquires Atari Europe 558 00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:49,480 Speaker 1: from Infograms. Infograms itself changes its name to Atari Essay 559 00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:52,160 Speaker 1: to create a united company, and it also has the 560 00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:54,720 Speaker 1: Atari Group, which is a collection of divisions from around 561 00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:58,240 Speaker 1: the world, like Atari Italia, that kind of thing um 562 00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:03,440 Speaker 1: that still have the Atari brand name. Here's a name 563 00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:07,240 Speaker 1: we haven't heard for a while. Bushnell. He comes back. 564 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:12,280 Speaker 1: He actually, because of an acquisition, ends up on the 565 00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:18,800 Speaker 1: board of directors or Atari So Incorporated specifically, So they 566 00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:22,560 Speaker 1: brought him back for that very reason, right to sort 567 00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:25,320 Speaker 1: of get some attention again, I imagine. So yeah, because 568 00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:28,160 Speaker 1: this is again one of those things where you've got 569 00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:32,240 Speaker 1: the name but otherwise there's no connection. But now you've 570 00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:36,200 Speaker 1: got the guy who founded the company. So that's big news. 571 00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:38,680 Speaker 1: And it definitely did get a lot of people writing 572 00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:42,880 Speaker 1: about it at the time, although if you look at 573 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:47,360 Speaker 1: two now you realize not a whole lot has will 574 00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:51,600 Speaker 1: remind you of the old golden age of Atari um 575 00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:55,800 Speaker 1: so inn. Atari Incorporated sells off Cryptic Studios, the one 576 00:33:55,840 --> 00:33:58,560 Speaker 1: that they had bought, the City Heroes one and in 577 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:06,680 Speaker 1: Atari Incorporated files for bankruptcy January. Oh so remember this 578 00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:10,840 Speaker 1: is the this was formally Infograms Atari Incorporated was formerly 579 00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:14,000 Speaker 1: part of Infograms, now part of Ataria Say. Atari Incorporated 580 00:34:14,040 --> 00:34:17,040 Speaker 1: files from bankruptcy partly to escape the debt accrued by 581 00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:20,000 Speaker 1: its parent company h and In. In an effort to 582 00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:22,239 Speaker 1: pay off the debt, they attempt to sell off the 583 00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:25,480 Speaker 1: portfolio of more than two video games, but they only 584 00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:31,120 Speaker 1: received fifteen preliminary bids and none of them approach the 585 00:34:31,200 --> 00:34:34,640 Speaker 1: price that Atari was hoping for, so they don't accept 586 00:34:34,680 --> 00:34:38,440 Speaker 1: any of them. Instead, they decide they'll sell bits and 587 00:34:38,480 --> 00:34:42,680 Speaker 1: pieces off rather than rather than sell everything off at 588 00:34:42,680 --> 00:34:44,560 Speaker 1: a price too low, They're going to sell bits and 589 00:34:44,560 --> 00:34:46,680 Speaker 1: pieces off and try and get themselves through it. And 590 00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:50,040 Speaker 1: it works. I mean they sell some stuff, not everything, 591 00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:52,040 Speaker 1: but they sell some stuff and then by the end 592 00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:56,520 Speaker 1: often they emerged from bankruptcy December. So like the entire 593 00:34:56,600 --> 00:35:00,400 Speaker 1: year of Atari Incorporated is in bankruptcy. This at US year. 594 00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:03,840 Speaker 1: Maybe it's hard. I mean there's a lot of competition 595 00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:07,960 Speaker 1: for that time. That title fourteen. Finally last year, that's 596 00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:10,560 Speaker 1: when we have the documentary that we talked about previously, 597 00:35:10,600 --> 00:35:12,520 Speaker 1: the one that went out to the desert to dig 598 00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:15,640 Speaker 1: up to find out if et really was beneath it 599 00:35:15,680 --> 00:35:19,239 Speaker 1: the cartridge, not the character and that kind of resurrected 600 00:35:19,239 --> 00:35:21,880 Speaker 1: a little bit of interest in it'sar again. Yeah. Yeah, 601 00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:23,320 Speaker 1: there was a lot of talk about there were a 602 00:35:23,320 --> 00:35:24,959 Speaker 1: lot of people wondering whether or not they were actually 603 00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:28,160 Speaker 1: gonna find anything, if they would just find scraps as 604 00:35:28,200 --> 00:35:30,640 Speaker 1: opposed to entire cartridges. And as we mentioned in the 605 00:35:30,680 --> 00:35:34,400 Speaker 1: previous episode, they did find cartridges. So um, yeah, the 606 00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:39,520 Speaker 1: whole story behind that is they manufactured four million cartridges, 607 00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:43,240 Speaker 1: they were unable to move three and a half million 608 00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:47,320 Speaker 1: of those. Man So they had only a couple of choices. 609 00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:50,399 Speaker 1: Do you store this and hope that you can one 610 00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:53,960 Speaker 1: day sell it, because keep in mind, storing stuff costs money, right, 611 00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:56,600 Speaker 1: you can't. It's not like there's just a magical space 612 00:35:56,960 --> 00:35:59,800 Speaker 1: like that. It's gonna occupy space that you would otherwise 613 00:35:59,840 --> 00:36:02,319 Speaker 1: use for something else. Or do you call it a 614 00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:05,919 Speaker 1: loss and throw it away? And they chose option number two. Yeah, 615 00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:08,200 Speaker 1: And so what's amazing to me about the whole et 616 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:11,200 Speaker 1: debacle is that, um, word got I mean this is 617 00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:14,360 Speaker 1: pre internet and word still got around that fast. From 618 00:36:14,440 --> 00:36:17,439 Speaker 1: Johnny telling his neighbor Billy how bad sucked, and Billy 619 00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:20,759 Speaker 1: telling his neighbor and it was around so fast that 620 00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:23,680 Speaker 1: there wasn't five thousand copies. There was no like Kataku 621 00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:26,279 Speaker 1: forum or something for people to say, this is still 622 00:36:27,160 --> 00:36:31,680 Speaker 1: in cul de sex yeah, and then scoffing over bargain 623 00:36:31,719 --> 00:36:35,479 Speaker 1: bins at your local toy store. Um. And so what's 624 00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:39,400 Speaker 1: going on with the Tory now, Well, it's focusing on 625 00:36:39,440 --> 00:36:42,280 Speaker 1: developing games for social platforms like Facebook and for mobile 626 00:36:42,280 --> 00:36:46,160 Speaker 1: devices primarily, although they're looking at some other stuff as well. Right. Yeah. 627 00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:49,759 Speaker 1: A former employee name Fred Uh, I don't know how 628 00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:52,200 Speaker 1: to pronounce that c h E s in a I S. 629 00:36:52,280 --> 00:36:55,239 Speaker 1: I believe it is one of the French fellows from Infogram. 630 00:36:56,080 --> 00:36:59,480 Speaker 1: Perhaps perhaps he's now the CEO. And he said that 631 00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:02,000 Speaker 1: he is going to try and be relevant in the 632 00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:07,320 Speaker 1: PC world again with a few different things, uh, notably gambling, 633 00:37:08,520 --> 00:37:11,920 Speaker 1: real casino gambling and just for fun casino gambling. So 634 00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:14,080 Speaker 1: I think this would be like if you walked into 635 00:37:14,080 --> 00:37:16,319 Speaker 1: a casino, you know how you see all those licensed 636 00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:20,239 Speaker 1: slot machines, like Lord of the Rings. That one, by 637 00:37:20,239 --> 00:37:21,840 Speaker 1: the way, treats me really well. So I love the 638 00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:24,080 Speaker 1: Lord of the Ring slot machine, but I can see 639 00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:27,200 Speaker 1: like the Centipede slot machine, and then operate some of 640 00:37:27,200 --> 00:37:29,080 Speaker 1: the gameplay. They're gonna do both. They're gonna have a 641 00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:32,520 Speaker 1: licensing program and they're gonna have an actual online casino, 642 00:37:33,320 --> 00:37:37,520 Speaker 1: social casino with virtual money and so the gambling thing 643 00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:41,600 Speaker 1: and licensing and games. They said, the flashback they're gonna 644 00:37:41,680 --> 00:37:44,759 Speaker 1: keep around. Uh, they have one idea for They're going 645 00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:46,920 Speaker 1: to create some new I p s. One is for 646 00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:51,879 Speaker 1: the LGBT community called pride Fest. And um he said, 647 00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:55,439 Speaker 1: they're developing a new Asteroids game that is a PC 648 00:37:55,640 --> 00:38:00,640 Speaker 1: game where you will actually be surviving on the asteroid itself. 649 00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:05,280 Speaker 1: So turn things around a little bit. They're trying, um 650 00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:08,319 Speaker 1: he thinks that they can capitalize on that Atari name 651 00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:13,640 Speaker 1: and get it back to relevance again. But I don't know. Yeah, 652 00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:18,520 Speaker 1: so you know, it's whether or not we see anything 653 00:38:18,520 --> 00:38:21,040 Speaker 1: coming out of this division. Also, keep in mind the 654 00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:24,600 Speaker 1: the Atari games that was purchased by Warner Brothers Entertainment. 655 00:38:25,160 --> 00:38:27,960 Speaker 1: You know, the story is not necessarily over for Atari, 656 00:38:28,040 --> 00:38:30,760 Speaker 1: although you could argue that as far as the original 657 00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:33,560 Speaker 1: company is concerned, that story has been over since the eighties. 658 00:38:34,560 --> 00:38:40,400 Speaker 1: So Uh, it's an interesting and and sometimes upsetting story, 659 00:38:40,480 --> 00:38:44,760 Speaker 1: the rise and fall of the of Atari and it Yeah, 660 00:38:44,880 --> 00:38:48,279 Speaker 1: and and there's people. I remember reading things like could 661 00:38:48,280 --> 00:38:51,960 Speaker 1: the video game crash happen again? And if you look, 662 00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:55,560 Speaker 1: there is a large number of different providers that are 663 00:38:55,560 --> 00:38:57,640 Speaker 1: all trying to clamor for attention. Now, when we think 664 00:38:57,680 --> 00:39:01,359 Speaker 1: of consoles, we think Nintendo, Sony an Xbox. Some people 665 00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:03,440 Speaker 1: would say just Sony an Xbox. They don't even think 666 00:39:03,480 --> 00:39:07,320 Speaker 1: of Nintendo. Um. But then we have the mobile game market, 667 00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:12,480 Speaker 1: we have computers. PC gaming is hitting a resurgence, so uh. 668 00:39:12,520 --> 00:39:14,480 Speaker 1: And then there are people like me who hold back 669 00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:18,160 Speaker 1: from buying current generation consoles because we don't necessarily see 670 00:39:18,200 --> 00:39:21,399 Speaker 1: the value in them or the reason to upgrade. Where 671 00:39:21,440 --> 00:39:24,080 Speaker 1: I was given one by my father in law. Yeah, 672 00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:27,880 Speaker 1: they we get to that point where we think, you know, 673 00:39:28,480 --> 00:39:31,759 Speaker 1: it's it is possible. You can't never say that you're 674 00:39:31,800 --> 00:39:35,840 Speaker 1: too big to fail. That's a rookie mistake, comes before 675 00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:39,120 Speaker 1: the fall. That that's true. So we have completed the 676 00:39:39,120 --> 00:39:40,919 Speaker 1: story of Attari. But now we've got a little time 677 00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:44,520 Speaker 1: to talk about some personal reflections beyond the stuff that 678 00:39:44,520 --> 00:39:48,239 Speaker 1: we've talked about in the previous episodes. So, Chuck, what 679 00:39:48,320 --> 00:39:54,160 Speaker 1: are some of your fond memories of Atari in general? Uh? Well, 680 00:39:55,000 --> 00:40:00,359 Speaker 1: buying pac Man on Christmas day, the buying was great. Yeah, 681 00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:04,160 Speaker 1: and actually, man I actually enjoyed playing it as um 682 00:40:04,520 --> 00:40:08,719 Speaker 1: a twelve year old. Um, I didn't realize how bad 683 00:40:08,719 --> 00:40:11,080 Speaker 1: it's stunk at the time because it was pac Man 684 00:40:11,080 --> 00:40:13,960 Speaker 1: in my house. Um And you know, as a little kid, 685 00:40:13,960 --> 00:40:15,600 Speaker 1: you're not like, oh, this doesn't look just like it 686 00:40:15,600 --> 00:40:19,040 Speaker 1: and sound just like it. I think older kids probably 687 00:40:19,320 --> 00:40:21,520 Speaker 1: were a little more like that, but um, I was 688 00:40:21,560 --> 00:40:23,920 Speaker 1: young enough to where I enjoyed it adventure. Like we 689 00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:28,719 Speaker 1: talked about man um the imagination playing Adventure well and 690 00:40:28,760 --> 00:40:33,120 Speaker 1: the fact that they incorporated things like the bat mechanic, 691 00:40:33,200 --> 00:40:36,160 Speaker 1: which meant that you could never expect the same gameplay 692 00:40:36,239 --> 00:40:39,800 Speaker 1: experience two times in a row, which was pretty interesting. 693 00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:42,160 Speaker 1: Like a lot of these games, like the early games, 694 00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:46,440 Speaker 1: it involved memorizing patterns, and if you memorize the pattern, 695 00:40:46,520 --> 00:40:50,479 Speaker 1: you could play definitely, but that didn't work for games 696 00:40:50,520 --> 00:40:54,279 Speaker 1: that actually would uh introduce some sort of element that 697 00:40:54,320 --> 00:41:00,000 Speaker 1: could at least be perceived as random. Yeah. River Raid fantastic, 698 00:41:00,360 --> 00:41:02,960 Speaker 1: huge game to me, that holds up still today. Yeah, 699 00:41:03,040 --> 00:41:05,040 Speaker 1: it's a good game. I think out of all the 700 00:41:05,440 --> 00:41:08,239 Speaker 1: shooter games, that's like by shooter, I mean like you're 701 00:41:08,280 --> 00:41:10,520 Speaker 1: controlling a ship that's moving around and shooting things. In 702 00:41:10,520 --> 00:41:12,839 Speaker 1: this case, it's a it's a jet, it's flying over 703 00:41:12,880 --> 00:41:17,239 Speaker 1: a river. Uh. That one. I didn't own river Raid, 704 00:41:17,239 --> 00:41:19,200 Speaker 1: but a friend of mine from down the street owned it, 705 00:41:19,239 --> 00:41:20,759 Speaker 1: and I would go over to his house all the 706 00:41:20,800 --> 00:41:23,480 Speaker 1: time to play it because it was the one title 707 00:41:23,640 --> 00:41:26,680 Speaker 1: on Atari that I really wanted but did not have. Well, 708 00:41:26,760 --> 00:41:29,160 Speaker 1: actually no, there were two, river Rate and Pitfall. I 709 00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:31,200 Speaker 1: never owned either of those, but I played the heck 710 00:41:31,239 --> 00:41:32,879 Speaker 1: out of them. I think river Raid was the first 711 00:41:32,920 --> 00:41:37,640 Speaker 1: top scroll game. Uh. Pitfall was huge, and that kind 712 00:41:37,640 --> 00:41:45,719 Speaker 1: of introduced the platforming genre of video games. Yeah. And 713 00:41:46,239 --> 00:41:50,360 Speaker 1: Warlords yeah. Uh. Man. I had a ton of Frogger. 714 00:41:50,400 --> 00:41:53,080 Speaker 1: I mean, I know that was sort of a kid's game, 715 00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:56,400 Speaker 1: but I still like Frogger. I think it's still challenging. 716 00:41:56,760 --> 00:41:59,640 Speaker 1: I liked Frogger as well. I remember I had some 717 00:41:59,680 --> 00:42:02,040 Speaker 1: games that I wish had been better, Like I had 718 00:42:02,080 --> 00:42:05,600 Speaker 1: Donkey Kong Jr. That really it didn't measure up nearly 719 00:42:05,640 --> 00:42:10,040 Speaker 1: as well to the arcade version. I had Popeye, which 720 00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:14,000 Speaker 1: also didn't measure up very well to the arcade version. Um, 721 00:42:14,280 --> 00:42:15,759 Speaker 1: but I mean it was it was like I had 722 00:42:15,760 --> 00:42:18,440 Speaker 1: a lot of those those games licensed games and stuff 723 00:42:18,440 --> 00:42:23,720 Speaker 1: as well. Uh yeah, I I also have really fond 724 00:42:23,760 --> 00:42:29,480 Speaker 1: memories of arcades. Like you know, there were there were 725 00:42:29,520 --> 00:42:32,279 Speaker 1: times where I would just go to the arcade to um, 726 00:42:32,680 --> 00:42:35,000 Speaker 1: you know, spend a dollar or whatever, and you know, 727 00:42:35,320 --> 00:42:37,000 Speaker 1: you always try and find the game that you figure 728 00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:39,960 Speaker 1: you're gonna get the most value for your money. I 729 00:42:39,960 --> 00:42:42,000 Speaker 1: can play this one for a long time. I'm gonna 730 00:42:42,040 --> 00:42:45,319 Speaker 1: play this one, um. And luckily there were also a 731 00:42:45,320 --> 00:42:48,000 Speaker 1: lot of them made by Atari that were really fun. 732 00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:51,080 Speaker 1: I mean, Star Wars is still like I love the 733 00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:53,880 Speaker 1: Star Wars trilogy game that came out that was modeled 734 00:42:53,920 --> 00:42:57,080 Speaker 1: after um, closer after the movies, like with better graphics 735 00:42:57,080 --> 00:42:59,919 Speaker 1: and everything. But there's still a place in my heart 736 00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:03,919 Speaker 1: of that vector graphics Star Wars game. And I wasn't 737 00:43:03,960 --> 00:43:06,719 Speaker 1: kidding when I said that I would actually consider purchasing 738 00:43:06,760 --> 00:43:11,439 Speaker 1: one of those because that was, um such an such 739 00:43:11,480 --> 00:43:14,399 Speaker 1: a fond memory. Like the two arcade games I went 740 00:43:14,440 --> 00:43:17,759 Speaker 1: back to over and over, we're uh We're Star Wars 741 00:43:17,800 --> 00:43:20,600 Speaker 1: and Spy Hunter. Oh yeah, No, Spy Hunter was not 742 00:43:20,600 --> 00:43:23,719 Speaker 1: an Atari game, but oddly enough, I think Spy Hunter 743 00:43:23,760 --> 00:43:27,640 Speaker 1: two ended up being distributed under Atari, even though Atari 744 00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:29,719 Speaker 1: had nothing to do with the original Spy Hunter. But 745 00:43:29,760 --> 00:43:32,680 Speaker 1: that just shows another way that the Atari story makes 746 00:43:32,840 --> 00:43:35,520 Speaker 1: no sense when you look at the whole thing. Yeah, 747 00:43:35,600 --> 00:43:38,160 Speaker 1: and you know, I hate to sound like the old guy, 748 00:43:38,560 --> 00:43:42,520 Speaker 1: but um, I'm really thankful that we grew up in 749 00:43:42,520 --> 00:43:48,240 Speaker 1: that generation. There was something really special about seeing something 750 00:43:48,320 --> 00:43:52,400 Speaker 1: invented for us right in front of our very eyes, 751 00:43:52,480 --> 00:43:55,239 Speaker 1: created out of nowhere, like we talked about in I 752 00:43:55,239 --> 00:43:58,239 Speaker 1: think episode two, when there were three TV stations or 753 00:43:58,320 --> 00:44:02,280 Speaker 1: you know, five or six TV stations and crappy handheld games, 754 00:44:02,320 --> 00:44:05,640 Speaker 1: and it was just it blew my mind. And I 755 00:44:05,680 --> 00:44:07,920 Speaker 1: spent a lot of time in the arcade and the 756 00:44:07,960 --> 00:44:11,759 Speaker 1: games today are amazing, but the mind blow isn't there 757 00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:14,359 Speaker 1: like it was back then, because it's all building on 758 00:44:14,560 --> 00:44:17,560 Speaker 1: what happened before it, and this was building on out 759 00:44:17,560 --> 00:44:19,640 Speaker 1: of thin air. And it also, I mean, it was 760 00:44:19,680 --> 00:44:23,200 Speaker 1: an era where a single person could develop a game 761 00:44:23,239 --> 00:44:25,719 Speaker 1: from beginning to finish. You know, now we have companies 762 00:44:25,760 --> 00:44:29,359 Speaker 1: that have entire divisions dedicated to that. It was also 763 00:44:29,520 --> 00:44:34,400 Speaker 1: an era where people were making weird games, like weird 764 00:44:34,440 --> 00:44:36,919 Speaker 1: games that could be a lot of fun but had 765 00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:39,320 Speaker 1: nothing to do with it, Like you look at yours Revenge, 766 00:44:39,360 --> 00:44:41,560 Speaker 1: I dare you to tell me what that's supposed to be. 767 00:44:42,200 --> 00:44:44,920 Speaker 1: It is bizarre, but it's awesome, And there are a 768 00:44:44,920 --> 00:44:49,239 Speaker 1: lot of really fun games. Yeah, huge, huge risks, right, 769 00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:51,720 Speaker 1: both in the arcade and in the home video game market, 770 00:44:51,760 --> 00:44:55,640 Speaker 1: just people saying, let's create some a fun experience. It 771 00:44:55,680 --> 00:44:59,200 Speaker 1: doesn't matter if it quote unquote makes sense or whatever. 772 00:44:59,680 --> 00:45:01,960 Speaker 1: These days, you look at video games and a lot 773 00:45:02,040 --> 00:45:05,280 Speaker 1: of the companies tend to get hung up on creating franchises. 774 00:45:05,360 --> 00:45:08,560 Speaker 1: They want they want to create a title that they 775 00:45:08,560 --> 00:45:15,120 Speaker 1: can make essentially clones of with modifications. Yeah, and then 776 00:45:15,200 --> 00:45:18,000 Speaker 1: that way they have built in a built an audience 777 00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:19,480 Speaker 1: they've got all right, these are the people who are 778 00:45:19,640 --> 00:45:22,279 Speaker 1: Call of Duty players. So let's put out a Call 779 00:45:22,320 --> 00:45:25,640 Speaker 1: of Duty game every single year. They'll buy it. We 780 00:45:25,640 --> 00:45:27,440 Speaker 1: we know they'll buy it because they are Call of 781 00:45:27,520 --> 00:45:30,840 Speaker 1: Duty fans, as opposed to saying what kind of cool 782 00:45:30,880 --> 00:45:34,399 Speaker 1: experience can we create, which is sort of given rise 783 00:45:34,440 --> 00:45:39,000 Speaker 1: to the independent developer community. So in a way, those 784 00:45:39,040 --> 00:45:42,160 Speaker 1: early Atari days are very similar to what we see 785 00:45:42,160 --> 00:45:45,399 Speaker 1: with the independent game community these days, except, of course, 786 00:45:45,440 --> 00:45:48,640 Speaker 1: the independent game developers are are not, as you know, 787 00:45:49,040 --> 00:45:52,440 Speaker 1: not as organized in a sense, they're nonder an umbrella 788 00:45:52,560 --> 00:45:55,840 Speaker 1: like Atari was. But other than that, they're they're operating 789 00:45:55,840 --> 00:45:57,919 Speaker 1: in a very similar way. You look at those early 790 00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:01,359 Speaker 1: days of Atari, it really did sound lot like what 791 00:46:01,440 --> 00:46:05,920 Speaker 1: an internet startup sounds like today. Yeah, you were defining 792 00:46:06,400 --> 00:46:09,440 Speaker 1: what you did and so there weren't rules because no 793 00:46:09,480 --> 00:46:13,560 Speaker 1: one had done it before. Yeah, we're talking earlier. So 794 00:46:13,600 --> 00:46:16,600 Speaker 1: my needs to get on that Atari movie. Yeah, great one. Yeah. Yeah. 795 00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:18,600 Speaker 1: We talked about the possibility of you know, someone needs 796 00:46:18,640 --> 00:46:22,080 Speaker 1: to do a documentary about this, like take this idea 797 00:46:22,200 --> 00:46:24,640 Speaker 1: of the rise and fall, the three episodes that we 798 00:46:24,680 --> 00:46:28,680 Speaker 1: have done, um, and really look into it and make 799 00:46:28,719 --> 00:46:33,759 Speaker 1: it a film to document what happened and explain the 800 00:46:33,800 --> 00:46:39,040 Speaker 1: processes and uh, because it does get so so convoluted 801 00:46:39,040 --> 00:46:41,200 Speaker 1: and complex towards the end of its existence. And of 802 00:46:41,200 --> 00:46:45,880 Speaker 1: course we could argue that by that time, it's you know, 803 00:46:45,920 --> 00:46:48,600 Speaker 1: it's saying the name Attari is meaningless because again it's 804 00:46:48,640 --> 00:46:51,440 Speaker 1: just a word at that point, um, which is sad. 805 00:46:51,520 --> 00:46:53,799 Speaker 1: It was. It did have such an important part in 806 00:46:53,880 --> 00:46:57,399 Speaker 1: my childhood. I mean, I I played so much both 807 00:46:57,440 --> 00:47:01,759 Speaker 1: in the arcade and blisters on my hand. Oh no, yeah, 808 00:47:01,800 --> 00:47:04,560 Speaker 1: you would get like I remember because the way I 809 00:47:04,560 --> 00:47:08,840 Speaker 1: would hold the joystick. Um in the in between my 810 00:47:08,920 --> 00:47:12,319 Speaker 1: thumb and forefinger where I would I would grip the 811 00:47:12,360 --> 00:47:17,439 Speaker 1: thumb stick, I would have a blister right there, and um. Yeah. 812 00:47:17,640 --> 00:47:19,440 Speaker 1: It also was one of those things that would frustrate 813 00:47:19,440 --> 00:47:22,040 Speaker 1: me because I'm a left hander, and so I I 814 00:47:22,120 --> 00:47:27,960 Speaker 1: ended up. Yeah, I coped well enough, but yeah, it 815 00:47:28,040 --> 00:47:30,680 Speaker 1: was a little I guess it kind of helped with 816 00:47:30,719 --> 00:47:33,560 Speaker 1: my precision of my right hand. Otherwise I probably would 817 00:47:33,560 --> 00:47:35,799 Speaker 1: just be flailing around the office on fire all the time. 818 00:47:36,320 --> 00:47:39,520 Speaker 1: So I thank Atari for that as well. Yeah, but yeah, 819 00:47:39,560 --> 00:47:41,520 Speaker 1: it's funny because I never owned you know, when the 820 00:47:41,560 --> 00:47:45,120 Speaker 1: Atari crap video game crash happened. Atari was the only 821 00:47:45,200 --> 00:47:48,719 Speaker 1: video game console I owned at the time of video 822 00:47:48,760 --> 00:47:53,600 Speaker 1: game consoles being being built. Right, So I got in television, 823 00:47:53,600 --> 00:47:55,880 Speaker 1: but that was after in television had was no longer 824 00:47:55,920 --> 00:47:58,160 Speaker 1: a thing that was. That was a hand me down. 825 00:47:58,640 --> 00:48:01,760 Speaker 1: I didn't get a Nintendo. I never had. My college 826 00:48:01,840 --> 00:48:03,279 Speaker 1: roommate had one, So I didn't buy one of those. 827 00:48:03,280 --> 00:48:06,439 Speaker 1: You see. I what I did was I transitioned over 828 00:48:06,520 --> 00:48:10,200 Speaker 1: to computers and I got I became one of those 829 00:48:10,239 --> 00:48:14,920 Speaker 1: snooty computer gamers because the games on computers were deeper, 830 00:48:15,040 --> 00:48:19,400 Speaker 1: more sophisticated. They didn't have the arcady kind of graphics 831 00:48:19,440 --> 00:48:23,000 Speaker 1: that dedicated video game consoles could have, but they did 832 00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:25,600 Speaker 1: have a richer game experience in my mind, and so 833 00:48:25,640 --> 00:48:28,080 Speaker 1: I became a computer gamer. Now it's funny because now 834 00:48:28,080 --> 00:48:31,600 Speaker 1: I'm a console gamer again, although I'm now transitioning back 835 00:48:31,640 --> 00:48:35,320 Speaker 1: to computer gamer. And that's because of services like Steam, 836 00:48:35,360 --> 00:48:38,520 Speaker 1: which allowed me to buy games and have them download 837 00:48:38,719 --> 00:48:40,360 Speaker 1: directly to my computer and I don't have to go 838 00:48:40,400 --> 00:48:42,600 Speaker 1: to a store. I don't have to buy a box. 839 00:48:43,000 --> 00:48:45,799 Speaker 1: I get the game delivered straight to my computer and 840 00:48:45,840 --> 00:48:47,359 Speaker 1: I can play it off of there. So it's funny 841 00:48:47,400 --> 00:48:49,680 Speaker 1: because I keep going back and forth. I went console 842 00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:53,360 Speaker 1: to PC to console. In fact, I was consoled for 843 00:48:53,360 --> 00:48:57,480 Speaker 1: a long time with the uh In sixty four GameCube, 844 00:48:57,960 --> 00:49:01,440 Speaker 1: the PS two, the PS three, the Xbox, the Xbox 845 00:49:01,480 --> 00:49:05,200 Speaker 1: three sixty I have all of those. A Dreamcast. I've 846 00:49:05,200 --> 00:49:07,719 Speaker 1: got a Dreamcast too. I'm thinking back now, I've never 847 00:49:07,800 --> 00:49:13,839 Speaker 1: bought a console. You've only been given was Christmas. My 848 00:49:14,120 --> 00:49:18,400 Speaker 1: college roommate had the first Nintendo had the Super Nintendo. 849 00:49:18,680 --> 00:49:21,560 Speaker 1: Another college droommate had the sixty four. My friend in 850 00:49:21,719 --> 00:49:23,719 Speaker 1: l A had the Xbox who lived next door to 851 00:49:23,760 --> 00:49:28,440 Speaker 1: men bought me the or gave me the p S three. 852 00:49:28,560 --> 00:49:31,040 Speaker 1: Not all of us can walk outside and expect consoles 853 00:49:31,080 --> 00:49:34,160 Speaker 1: to rain down from the heaven. Never bought one, just 854 00:49:34,160 --> 00:49:36,480 Speaker 1: just occurred to me, to be fair, Some of those 855 00:49:36,760 --> 00:49:39,719 Speaker 1: were gifts to me. Actually, the Dreamcast was given to 856 00:49:39,760 --> 00:49:43,520 Speaker 1: me after Dreamcast had already folded, and uh, my wife 857 00:49:43,520 --> 00:49:46,319 Speaker 1: bought it like a used Dreamcast and then we just 858 00:49:46,360 --> 00:49:49,120 Speaker 1: got like a folder full of games that that came 859 00:49:49,120 --> 00:49:51,480 Speaker 1: out for it. By the way, I should do a 860 00:49:51,520 --> 00:49:54,440 Speaker 1: full episode just on the Dreamcast at some point, because 861 00:49:54,920 --> 00:50:00,000 Speaker 1: that was also an amazing system. Uh that died unnecessar 862 00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:01,839 Speaker 1: sarely like it. It was. It was kind of like 863 00:50:01,880 --> 00:50:05,200 Speaker 1: the Jaguar and that it came out and it was 864 00:50:05,880 --> 00:50:11,279 Speaker 1: clearly superior to it's it's uh competitors in space, but 865 00:50:11,400 --> 00:50:14,279 Speaker 1: because of bad timing and a bad library early on, 866 00:50:14,360 --> 00:50:17,560 Speaker 1: it never took off, at least not to a point 867 00:50:17,600 --> 00:50:20,440 Speaker 1: that could sustain a company. And there you have it, 868 00:50:20,560 --> 00:50:24,400 Speaker 1: the classic three part series, the Rise and Fall of Atari. 869 00:50:25,120 --> 00:50:27,680 Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed that. Like I said, it was 870 00:50:27,719 --> 00:50:29,759 Speaker 1: a lot of fun to look into one of those 871 00:50:29,800 --> 00:50:32,359 Speaker 1: where at the time when we were looking into this, 872 00:50:32,520 --> 00:50:37,600 Speaker 1: we came across lots of different conflicting stories about the 873 00:50:37,680 --> 00:50:40,800 Speaker 1: history of Atari and who played what role, and there's 874 00:50:40,800 --> 00:50:44,839 Speaker 1: a lot of of kind of accusations and cross accusations 875 00:50:44,840 --> 00:50:47,080 Speaker 1: of people misrepresenting things. It made it a bit of 876 00:50:47,080 --> 00:50:49,680 Speaker 1: a challenge. There was a lot of fun to to 877 00:50:49,760 --> 00:50:53,040 Speaker 1: really talk about, and like I said in the last episode, 878 00:50:53,920 --> 00:50:56,759 Speaker 1: if you want to hear more, you should check out 879 00:50:56,800 --> 00:50:59,359 Speaker 1: the more recent episode I did of the video game 880 00:50:59,400 --> 00:51:02,960 Speaker 1: Crash of Night teena three that tells some more of 881 00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:06,560 Speaker 1: the story of Atari that kind of compliments what we 882 00:51:06,640 --> 00:51:09,480 Speaker 1: have gone through with these classic episodes. If you have 883 00:51:09,560 --> 00:51:12,840 Speaker 1: suggestions for topics I should cover in future episodes, please 884 00:51:12,840 --> 00:51:14,879 Speaker 1: reach out to me. The best way to do that 885 00:51:15,040 --> 00:51:17,640 Speaker 1: is on Twitter. The handle for the show is text 886 00:51:17,680 --> 00:51:20,600 Speaker 1: Stuff h s W and I'll talk to you again 887 00:51:21,280 --> 00:51:29,640 Speaker 1: and really soon. Text Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. 888 00:51:29,880 --> 00:51:32,680 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the i 889 00:51:32,800 --> 00:51:36,040 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 890 00:51:36,080 --> 00:51:37,000 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.